


Never Have I Ever

by scheherazade



Series: Nantoka Daigaku (College AU) [4]
Category: Tenimyu RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 04:03:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14968697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scheherazade/pseuds/scheherazade
Summary: Inagaki throws a party. Ikkei invites Mario.





	Never Have I Ever

"I doubt it'll be that bad," Ikkei says with more confidence than he feels. "I mean, it _is_ a school night."

"Only technically." Mario gives him a quick smile. "Thursday is a big party night for varsity—and some intramurals, too—since there's usually games on Saturdays, so we can't get too wild on Friday nights."

"Oh." Ikkei shifts the paper bag full of cookies and soda in his arms. "I see."

"But I'm glad you invited me," Mario says. His smile is softer, this time. Almost shy. "I've never been to a Rainbow Alliance party before."

"Neither have I."

"Huh?"

"This was all Inagaki's idea. It's not even an official club party. He just has no friends outside of Rainbow Alliance, I think. So we've all been invited." 

And tasked with supplying half the things for said party. Ikkei shifts the bag again as one of the battered seams starts to rip. Damn Inagaki and damn the environmental club and their Spring Cleaning Reuse/Reduce campaign. First of all, that's a stupid campaign name. Secondly, this particular paper bag should have been thrown out ages ago—but Hideya's been completely taken in by the hippies and insisted that Ikkei join him in this self-punishment of an exercise. 

For solidarity, or something. Shohei had been on board with it, too, so now here they are: a bunch of queers with unwieldy gear. And beer. If Inagaki's vague hints all week are any indicator. Personally, Ikkei disapproves of underage drinking. 

But, well. College experience. Right?

"Let me get that for you," Mario says, and Ikkei realizes that he's holding the door.

"Um. Thank you." Is it just him, or is it hotter in Inagaki's dorm than it is outside? Bad ventilation, probably. Maybe they should call facilities. 

And then they could also mention that the elevator here takes forever.

Mario follows him, as Ikkei walks out of the elevator almost before the doors have finished opening and makes a beeline for Inagaki's room. Because they're late already. He can hear the sound of voices from halfway down the hall. 

At the door, Ikkei realizes he doesn't have any free hands to knock. 

He opens his mouth to holler for somebody to let them in—and Mario reaches past him and raps once, twice on the door. "Hello! We're here for the party!"

"Sorry, gorgeous people only!" comes a distinct voice, followed by a round of laughter, and then the door opens to reveal one Inagaki Seiya—holding a red solo cup and wearing a sparkly shawl and what looks like the entire contents of an eyeshadow palette.

"What," says Ikkei. 

Inagaki gives Mario an obnoxious once over. He doesn't even have the grace to do the same for Ikkei. Just grins and waves them in. 

"We have a full house!"

"Welcome to the madhouse," says Konishi, who's sitting on the floor, fiddling with a handful of keys while surrounded by the exploded contents of a makeup bag. 

Next to him, Yata half-lifts his solo cup. "Join the fun."

"Sorry we started without you," Hideya says. Or, more accurately, giggles into Shohei's shoulder while the latter dusts glitter out of his hair. 

Shohei greets them with a normal smile. "Glad you guys could make it," he says, even though that should be Inagaki's job, seeing as this is his party. 

"We brought cookies," Mario says brightly, dropping to sit cross-legged next to Shohei. He glances back up. "Oh, um, do you need any help with that, Ikkei-san?"

"No, I got it." 

Ikkei dumps the bag on Inagaki's bed, which appears to be doubling as a serving table. There's a couple open bags of chips and a scattering of empty plastic cups. It's not exactly a flat surface, but it'll do. 

The only actual flat surface in the room—the desk—is covered in bottles of beer and other types of alcohol that Ikkei vaguely recognizes by their labels. 

Apparently Thursday is also a big party night for Inagaki. 

"And what's this for?" Mario is asking, when Ikkei goes to join the circle. 

Konishi twirls a little makeup brush. "This one's for eyeshadow. You can also use this kind of brush for lipstick, but I'm not letting Inagaki's gross mouth anywhere near my things."

"It's technically mine," Yata remarks to no one in particular. "You stole that from the drama club supplies."

"You bought more than you needed," Konishi shoots back. 

Inagaki flips his hair. "Don't I look cute, though?"

Hideya and Shohei make sounds of agreement, while Yata raises an eyebrow, Konishi rolls his eyes—and Mario says, "The colors are very nice. Brings out your eyes."

"A gentleman!" The shawl slips from Inagaki's shoulders as he flings his arms out to hug Mario, who smiles—confused, but not displeased—and pats his back. "The rest of you could learn from—what's your name again?"

"Hey!" Mario laughs, while Ikkei splutters. 

"Kidding, kidding." Inagaki leans back on his arms. "I know you're one of the baseball players."

Ikkei turns to Yata, glances at the plastic cup in his hands. "Are all of you drunk?"

"Hardly." Yata offers Ikkei his cup. "Inagaki's a cheapskate and mixed Smirnoff Ice with Sprite. You'd have to drink a whole keg to get drunk."

"No thanks." To both the idea of a keg and—whatever it was Yata said he was drinking. "How'd you get here before me, anyway? Didn't you have drama club?"

"Nobody showed up today so Hideyan and I just came straight over." 

Ikkei glances across the circle at his roommate. "Is _he_ drunk?"

"I'm not drunk!" Hideya yelps indignantly, apparently having been eavesdropping on their conversation. Ikkei rolls his eyes. Hideya pulls a face. They grin at each other. Hideya says, "I just had a little sip of Shohei's beer, that's all. I didn't like it. Sorry."

"No worries," Shohei says easily. "It's not for everyone."

"Try this one." Yata hands Hideya his cup. "It's sweet."

"Well now you've done it," Ikkei says, watching Hideya's face light up when he tastes the concoction. "I'm gonna have to carry him back to our room."

"I'll help," Mario and Konishi say simultaneously. They blink and look at each other. Ikkei is torn between the urge to laugh and go back to his room right there and then.

Inagaki claps his hands to get everyone's attention. "Worry about yourselves first, because we're playing drinking games. Everybody grab a cup!"

"Um," says Ikkei, very intelligently, as Inagaki forces a solo cup into his hand. It smells like beer. It looks like beer. It doesn't look terribly appealing. 

By the time he looks back up, everybody either has a cup or a can in their hands. Except for Yata, who has a clear bottle of something labelled Smirnoff Ice—oh, that's what he'd been talking about. It looks better than the beer. 

"Trade you," Ikkei says. 

Yata raises an eyebrow, but hands him the bottle. 

"What are we playing?" Hideya asks.

Inagaki says, "Well, I was thinking we should play Kings, but I couldn't find a pack of cards. I asked Tatsu to bring some over but he's not answering my texts, sooooo." He grins at the entire circle. "We're playing Never Have I Ever!"

"Oh my god," Ikkei hears himself say, at the same time Konishi sighs, "One, leave my roommate alone. And two, what is this, middle school?"

Mario says, "I've never heard of this game."

Ikkei turns to stare at him. Mario senses him looking, catches his eye and looks sheepish. Konishi opens his mouth—no doubt to make another catty remark—and Hideya beats him to it with, 

"It's really easy! Everyone starts with ten." He puts down his cup and holds up ten fingers. "And you make statements like, 'Never have I ever skipped school,' and anyone who _has_ skipped school loses one." Hideya folds one thumb down. "And when you get to zero you're out." He pauses. "Though, I don't know how that's a drinking game."

"Easy," says Inagaki, like everything is for him. Or maybe it's just him. "If you _have_ done the deed, you drink." 

"And you lose when your cup is empty," Hideya concludes. 

Inagaki grins. "No. You lose when you can't drink anymore."

"Nobody's winning this," Ikkei mutters under his breath. Mario gives him a curious look. 

Yata makes a humming sound. "Such is the game of life."

"It's more of an icebreaker game anyway, isn't it," Shohei says to Hideya, who concedes that it is. Konishi takes a drink from his cup without anybody having even made a single statement. 

"I'll start!" Inagaki announces. He lifts his cup. "Never have I ever shamelessly stolen club supplies."

"For the record," Konishi declares, while everyone laughs, "I regret nothing." He drinks. 

Next to Ikkei, Yata also lifts his cup in a mock toast. "Cheers."

"You stole something?" Hideya sounds far too surprised for someone who's known Yata for nearly half a year now. "When? From where?"

"I suppose it's not so much stealing as misuse of equipment." Yata swirls his cup like he's got some expensive drink instead of cheap beer. "The student council buy all kinds of things. I have a key, so sometimes I go test out, say, the karaoke machines they got for spring formal."

"You have access to the karaoke machines?" Inagaki sits bolt upright. "Why didn't you say so before?"

"Had," Yata corrects him. "They're in storage now. I'm trying to convince someone in authority to put them in the student center."

"That'd be cool," Mario says. He smiles at Ikkei. "I haven't done karaoke in ages."

"Me neither," Ikkei admits. 

"All right, my turn," Konishi says. He lifts his cup. He thinks about it for a good fifteen seconds, long enough for Mario to start fidgeting. Ikkei resists the urge to put a hand on his shoulder or his knee. Konishi says, "Never have I ever seen the Harry Potter movies."

" _What?_ " is the immediate outcry from the entire circle, drowning out Konishi's protest that they all need to drink since they've all clearly participated in this mainstream pop cultural phenomenon.

The bottled drink is very sweet and a little fizzy. It burns his throat a little—Ikkei disguises it with a cough—but otherwise it's not too bad. 

Shohei says, "Okay, seriously, you've never seen even part of one?"

"I averted my eyes," Konishi says, which makes Inagaki start laughing. "I don't need somebody ruining my pure childhood memories of those books with inherently inferior remakes."

"But the magic looks so cool on screen!" Hideya protests. 

"And the actors are great," Mario adds. Ikkei waits for the standard love letter to Emma Watson. Mario says, "I mean, the guy who played Cedric—what's his name? He was also in those other movies. He's really famous now."

Ikkei stares at him. Mario looks to Shohei, who shrugs—"I'm not good with names,"—and then Inagaki, who instead of answering the question just says, "You have good taste."

"Robert Pattinson," Yata says. "That's the actor's name. And I think it's my turn?"

Inagaki waves for him to go ahead. "Indeed."

Yata lifts his cup. "Never have I ever participated in the rigged game of electoral politics."

A beat of silence. 

"None of us have," Konishi says finally. "None of us were old enough to vote in the last election. Unless one of you is secretly old."

"I was old enough," Ikkei admits, because he knows Yata—unlike half the room—can actually do math. "But it was the middle of college application season and I didn't register in time, so."

"We can go register together next year," Hideya says. 

"We should all do that," Shohei agrees. "It's important to participate."

"I'm down," Mario says, and Hideya beams at all of them. 

"Drink up, Yata-chan," Inagaki says. 

Yata gives him a blank look. "Why?"

"You made a statement that nobody's done, so _you_ have to drink."

"I didn't know that was a rule," Shohei remarks, while Yata just shrugs and drinks. 

"It is now. And this is the slowest game ever," Konishi declares. "Go, Ikkei. Your turn."

Which. Right. He picks up his bottle of alcohol. He's suddenly very aware of everyone looking at him—including Mario—and also of the fact that this game is, in essence, a socially acceptable way of being nosy about everybody's business.

He says, "Never have I ever drank beer."

"That's cheating!" Hideya laughs along with Mario, who raises his cup in a toast to Ikkei before taking a big gulp.

"Next." Konishi points at Mario. "Go."

"Um… Gimme a sec!" Mario laughs. He actually scratches the back of his head. "Oh, here's one! Never have I ever skipped breakfast!"

"That cannot be true," Inagaki protests, while Konishi pushes his cup toward his face for him.

Everybody drinks. Except Yata, who says, "Technically, the first meal after you wake up is breakfast. So in that sense—"

"I've definitely woken you up at six in the evening to go to dinner after you stayed up all night, went to class, and went straight back to sleep," Ikkei says, to a round of laughter. "Drink."

Yata rolls his eyes, but does. 

"My turn," Shohei says, smiling. "Mario, you're not getting out of this either: never have I ever, while physically able, _not_ hit the gym at least three times a week."

"Dude, I told you that in confidence!" 

"Told him what?" Ikkei asks, after he's taken a sip of his drink (having never been to the gym even once in his life). 

"Oh, um." Mario shrugs sheepishly. "I skipped weight training one week last semester, because classes got really busy. It was just one session! I asked Shohei to cover for me. And now he's blown my cover."

Mario pulls a face at Shohei, who just laughs at him.

"Your secret's safe with us," Yata says from Ikkei's other side. Eavesdropper. 

"Oh. Thanks." Mario gives Yata a hesitant smile. His smile for Ikkei is a lot warmer.

His entire face feels a lot warmer, actually. Ikkei presses the back of his hand to his forehead. He hopes he's not getting sick. 

"Am I next?" someone asks.

"Make it spicy," Inagaki suggests.

Hideya giggles. "Okay, well…" He sits up straighter and lifts his cup. "Never have I ever kissed a girl."

Damn Inagaki and his bad influence on people, honestly, Ikkei thinks as Shohei and Mario both laugh and drink, as expected. And—after a split second's hesitation—Konishi also drinks. Inagaki cat calls him, earning a glare and making Hideya burst into laughter. 

In the middle of the commotion, Yata takes a leisurely sip of his beer. 

Only Ikkei notices—or so he thinks, until Hideya gasps. "Wait, Yata-chan, too?" 

Which gets everyone's attention. Inagaki asks, "Okay, well now you have to tell us who the lucky lady was."

"If it was before junior high, it doesn't count," Konishi adds.

Yata gives them all an unruffled look. He lifts his cup and says, "Never have nor shall I ever kiss and tell."

"Oh, boring," Inagaki declares. Then he notices something. "But it's my turn again! Time to turn it up." And Ikkei has just enough time to get a bad feeling about it, before Inagaki says, "Never have I ever slept with someone taller than me."

Ikkei's entire face heats up. Luckily, the chaos of noise unleashed by Inagaki's statement means that nobody else is really paying attention, as Konishi is spluttering, 

"Just because _you're_ taller than everybody you've ever met—"

"It's not my fault that you can't resist climbing every tall drink of—"

"Um, like you can talk?!"

"This does seem like a targeted attack," Yata notes, while Hideya is actually trying to hide his face behind his hands. Ikkei can hear the implied _kyaa_ from here.

Shohei raises his cup to Inagaki. "Cheers." And drinks.

"Wait," says Hideya. 

"Plot twist." Inagaki sounds admiring.

Konishi looks Shohei up and down. "I thought you were straight."

Yata makes a suspicious coughing noise into his drink. 

Shohei says, "My girlfriend senior year of high school was on the volleyball team."

Mario, Ikkei notices, hasn't said anything. He also hasn't taken a drink—figures, he would be into cute, small girls—but mostly he looks uncomfortable. 

"You feeling okay?" Ikkei asks quietly. 

Mario starts. He smiles at Ikkei, though, when he looks up. "Yeah. No. I was just thinking. Can't believe Shohei managed to find time to date someone when he was playing at the same level I was in high school. Gotta wonder how people do it."

"Yeah, well." Ikkei remembers that Mario has mentioned it before, once or twice, that he barely had a social life—much less a romantic one—thanks to baseball being his entire life. He's hoping college will change that. Ikkei wonders if it has. Doesn't seem like it, when Mario apparently has nothing better to do on a party night than come play dumb games in Inagaki's room. Ikkei says, "Plenty of people didn't have time for dating in high school."

"Not just us jocks, huh?" Mario says, after a second's pause. 

"Definitely not," Ikkei agrees. 

Mario's smile goes wider, kind and happy, just because of something like that. And how dumb is that? He's just being nice. It's what you're supposed to do. 

Konishi pounds his hand on the floor to get everyone's attention. "All right, all right! Moving on! Wipe that smug smirk off your face, Inagaki."

"It's just my face, Konitan."

Hideya giggles into his cup. Ikkei wonders if he's forgotten that he's only supposed to drink for the game. Konishi looks straight at Inagaki and says, 

"Never have I ever put out after just one date to a convenience store."

Mario bursts out laughing, along with Hideya, and Ikkei doesn't manage to muffle his snort either because yeah—they've all heard this story. And others.

Inagaki lifts his cup without even a hint of shame at being called out. "Life's too short to be a prude." And gulps the remainder of his drink. 

Yata says, thoughtfully, "Never have I ever taken someone on a date to a convenience store."

"Oy," says Inagaki, though he's already gotten another beer and refilled his cup. He passes the can to Konishi. "That's kind of unfair, don't you think?"

"Never have I ever," Ikkei says, picking up the thread, "told anyone about the time I took someone on a date to a convenience store and then slept with them that same afternoon."

Mario elbows Ikkei, but he's struggling not to laugh. Hideya is leaning against Shohei, he's giggling so hard. 

Konishi pours the rest of the beer into Inagaki's cup. "Drink up."

"Mean," says Inagaki—but proceeds to down the entire cup without even pausing for breath. Hideya starts clapping about halfway through, at the same time Mario starts a chant of, _Chug! Chug! Chug!_ with the help of Shohei and (for whatever reason) Yata. 

But when Inagaki turns the empty cup upside down with a flourish, even Konishi joins in on the applause.

"You could drink half the team under the table," Mario says, with no small amount of admiration.

Inagaki gives him a leer. "Invite me to a party sometime."

"You're welcome whenever," Shohei says. He adds to the rest of the circle, "All of you. We usually just hang out in Wada's suite. You guys know Wada Takuma?"

"He's a junior, right?" Hideya asks, at the same time Konishi says, "Isn't that Mitsuya's friend?"

"Friend my ass," Ikkei mutters under his breath. Yata snorts. 

Mario gives him a curious look. "Who's Mitsuya?"

Ikkei catches Yata giving him an amused look. To Mario, Ikkei says, "Tell you later," because it's going to take more than a sentence or two to explain all the gossip going around about those two. 

Mario just smiles at him. "Okay. That's a promise."

"Um," says Ikkei. His face feels hot again. "Yeah, sure. Tell you on the walk back."

His bottled drink has gone kind of warm, but Ikkei drinks it anyway. Maybe it'll cool him down. Or maybe it'll just make this fluttery, stomach-flipping feeling even worse. But it's all a bit too late now anyway, isn't it? So he might as well enjoy it.

"Look at you," Yata says, sounding like he's trying not to laugh. "Getting lit on a school night."

"Only technically," Ikkei shoots back. "Thursday's the biggest party night for athletes."

Yata raises an eyebrow. "When did you join the baseball team?"

"Honorary member," Mario says easily. "Just like I'm an honorary member of the drama club. Right, Ikkei-san?"

His arm has somehow ended up around Ikkei's shoulders. Ikkei leans into it. Mostly just to watch the way Yata's eyebrows disappear into his hairline.

"Honorary leading man," Ikkei says. He remembers something. "Isn't that your role in the batting order, too?"

"Leadoff," Mario says, while Yata bursts into actual laughter.

But there's nothing mocking in the way Mario corrects him. If anything, he sounds fond. And that's nice. Ikkei didn't really think he'd be friends with a baseball jock—much less one who doesn't seem to understand personal space, and calls him _Ikkei-san_ , as if he's some kind of dainty girl—but it's nice. Mario is nice. 

And there's nothing wrong with that, he figures. Things change, in college. For the better. Ikkei is making new friends, finding people who accept him and people who make him laugh. Even if they also insist on making him drink. But even that's not so bad. And Mario seems to enjoy it. Maybe this way Mario will find some time for an actual social life outside of baseball. Maybe even a romantic one.

It's all part of the college experience, Ikkei thinks, leaning just a bit into Mario—who seems happy to let Ikkei use him as a backrest—and they watch Inagaki try to convince Konishi to go get his roommate to come join the party. 

"Thanks for inviting me," Mario says at some point. 

Ikkei smiles back at him. "Thanks for saying yes."


End file.
